Red Pepper Quilts on Etsy

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I finished the Red and White Coin Quilt today. Endurance quilting was completed last night with a sigh of relief, and binding late today after a dash to my local fabric store.

In the end it was a race against fading light with another cool day behind us, although the late winter sunshine provided better than expected lighting conditions for easy picture taking. Photographing white quilts is proving to be a challenge at times!

The finished size of the quilt is 60 inches x 48 inches, and as usual the back of the quilt is also pieced, I did however choose to use green/blue fabrics for the back of the quilt in contrast to the overly red quilt top.

I am pleased with how the quilting turned out on this quilt. Quilting straight lines close together does sound and look easy, however things can go horribly wrong rather quickly. The success of this quilting style depends very much upon good basting technique. Without a well basted quilt sandwich, the lines of stitching can pull the quilt layers up or down unevenly, either at the front or the back, and thus distort and pucker the quilt. My quilts are all basted by taping the backing to the ground and then stabilizing the quilt sandwich using lots of pins.

I also use a walking foot for all straight line quilting and an increased stitch length. This quilt was stitched with a 4.0 stitch length (Bernina), in comparison I use a 2.0 stitch length for patchwork piecing.

To bind the quilt I have used a Kei Honeycomb fabric in black with white polka dots. Many red fabrics were auditioned for the binding, all failed to impress. My final choice of black binding fabric provides a bold frame without detracting from the overall look of the quilt, and does not disappoint.

34 comments:

I love this quilt. The back is gorgeous. I'm making a quilt right now myself. Although I am an experienced seamstress, quilting has been a challenge. Hoping to finish it today and post it on my blog by tomorrow. Maybe you can look and tell me what you think.

The red front paired with blue back is very striking. I love this, and love your blog! I have added it to the list of motivational blogs on mine! If you want to check it out, I am at www.ocd-obsessivecraftingdisorder.com Thanks for the inspiration!

Your quilts are so fabulous! I am new to quilting and find all of yours very inspiring. A question: How do you get your pieced backs to line up so perfectly? I just did my first and the straight line quilting totally gives away that the backing is a little crooked...ugh!

I just love all of your quilts! And the black binding was a great choice.

I always forget to change my stitch length if I use my Bernina to quilt, and it's nice to hear what stitch length you use. When I do remember to change it, I have a hard time deciding what to change it to!

I agree with you that the key to good straight line quilting is increased stitch length and a walking foot, although I use spray basting rather than pins - with the size of quilts I work on I find this works well for me and I lose the added weight of the pins. This is a fabulous quilt and you should be very proud of the end result! Love the back, too!

Gorgeous!! The back is wonderful! I don't like things to be so "matchy-matchy" so this was a fabulous combo, IMO! You were so spot on with the binding, too. Red would have been too much and would have faded away or blended in too much. Black was the perfect way to go!!

What an outstanding job of quilting you did ! I love the green and blue and that would be my 'front side'........just my favorite color choice !

You aren't kidding about the trouble you can get into with this type of quilting. I had to rip mine out, due to too-little basting and an untrustworthy walking foot ! I switched to meandering, which is much more forgiving after a good wash-and-dry.

I love this quilt, Rita, on so many different levels. The front, obviously fab. The back is such a great contrast, and the binding works beautifully with both the front and the back. And in my humble opinion, the endurance quilting was worth it. Wowza!

Lovely quilt! I see on the post you use a 4.0 stitch length, but I am wondering if you alternate direction with each pass of stitching? For instance if you stitch from - top to bottom - on the next pass do you stitch from bottom to top?

Very fresh, Rita! Love the surprise of the contrasting colors on the other side! The quilting is fabulous, very fitting for this modern style. Thank you for sharing about your technique, you are a great inspiration!

I've just discovered your blog and your work is amazing and so so neat! Have bought some fabric to make a throw for our bedroom, but some other big projects has come along, so this has to wait till next year :-(. But I'll get there. Have a good week. Cx